Driving to Whistler
 

Sorry if this question seems idiotic but it's been a really really long time since i've been to Whistler and it was during summer the one time that i did go.

Would I be fine driving my genesis coupe (RWD+all seasons) this monday up to whistler to stay for a night or are the conditions bad up there for such a car? I assume it'd be fine because the Sea to Sky is a frequently travelled road so it'd be all clear?

Any input would be appreciated thanks

B.C. Highway Cams

The web cam shows the road pretty clear, so why not.

Didn't realize that existed. Looks good. Thanks I appreciate it!

Winter Tires

Where are winter tires and chains required on BC highways?

There are Regulatory Signs (R047) posted in various locations on numbered highways throughout the province.

The R-047 Regulatory sign “Use Winter Tires or Carry Chains – Beyond This Point – October 1st – April 30th“ when placed upon a highway will prohibit vehicles from being driven or operated on a highway that are not equipped with winter tires or chains beyond that point when enforced by the police, ministry or other enforcement officials.



R-047 Sign



W-041 Sign

The W-041 Warning sign when placed upon a highway is to inform motorists that winter driving conditions can be expected on provincial highways from Oct 1st -Apr 30th. Therefore, motorist should be properly equipped with appropriate winter safety equipment between Oct 1st – April 30th, and may be prevented from proceeding on highways which have R-047 regulatory signs “Use Winter Tires or Carry Chains – Beyond This Point – October 1st – April 30th“ placed upon the highway.

Click on the maps below to see the regional highways requiring winter tires and/or chains. See also Tires and Chain-up Information.

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/SeasonalDriv...ains_R1Map.pdf


all seasons will not be eligible for Whistler unfortunately from Oct to April.

The new Sea to Sky is so much safer and easier to drive... if you keep an eye out for weather you should be fine.

it's not as much as the highway being safer. It is subject to a fine if caught operating non-winter tires in the specific zone.

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/SeasonalDriv...y_Brochure.pdf

I have seen people turned around by RCMP, and/or ticketted and turned around/towed.

Since it's a weekend trip, do you have any access to a vehicle with winter tires? Going alone or can you maybe carpool? Weekend rental SUV?

Just trying to give you suggestions so you can still go and not have to deal with potential backlash.

They only check if its really bad up there, just north of squamish is where I've seen the checks.

I highly doubt RCMP would turn anyone back in moderate conditions such as the ones that are currently occuring...or is this a possibility?
Posted via RS Mobile

I had the distinct displeasure of driving up to Whistler a few weeks back when it was snowing in Vancouver and the drive up was hell, it was without a doubt the worst drive I've ever done up there. It was -8 outside of Squamish and the freezing rain was freezing immediately on the windshield, the road was a sheet of ice.

I was in a new X5 with stock tires which are all seasons without the snowflake emblem which qualifies them for winter use, and it was sketchy. I was driving very carefully and made it fine but there were many people that were driving much less carefully and although they didn't crash, I doubt they realized how close to the limit of traction they really were with their stock tires on their X5, Q7, XC90, etc.

However, with all this said, there were no police roadblocks to turn us around outside Squamish which I was worried about. It seems extremely unlikely that they run them so if you are confident with your driving and tire choice, you are probably not likely to be turned around by the policy. However, if you wreck and you were doing something obviously stupid (not saying you are), there are stories of ICBC refusing to pay, however, I have no experience either way.

Drive safely and always do your best to have the right tires for the conditions. I would have rather had a Civic with snow tires than my X5 with all-seasons.

Mark

Are snow tires legally required for the local mountains? I want to get a pass for next season (probably Cypress) and want to know if I need to plan ahead for winter rims and tires.

Yes. Winter tires are very useful if you plan to go to Cypress or Seymour. Grouse does not require it.
Posted via RS Mobile

Conditions aren't moderate right now. Whistler is getting pounded with the biggest fucking storm I've seen in years. I almost got stuck with winter tires, but my car is pretty low. Make no mistake, march is the biggest snow month, even though it isn't the depths of winter. I wouldn't worry about the check, and the tires should be fine, but be careful. I'd rather just take the bus and not worry.

I personally have never seen a road check but if the weather is bad you NEED winters. I was raging so hard a few weeks back when it was snowing really hard and nobody could drive, ie some guy in a new land rover with factory tires just spinning on flat ground.

There's a lot of retard who drive the road, when the road is really bad I usually try and bomb past people so that I can be by myself.

Well, let's put it this way. I'm put plates on my 4runner to drive up there tomorrow.

UNLESS you're carrying chains.

And as all the others have said, they don't bother checking unless the conditions are bad.

so since I live half way, and go to whistler more often than most, you really don't need snow tires.

recomended for sure, but I actually owned a Genesis Coupe and had all seasons on the front and summers on the rear and went to whistler 20 or 30 times last year with no issues in the snow.

fail all you want(mindbomber) but realistically if the conditions are bad enough, the squamish RCMP will stop you at Alice lake and check for snow tires. *LEGALLY* if your tires have the M+S tag then you're good to go, as the squam whistler route isn't technically a mountain highway requiring the snow flake (again mind bomber if you havn't failed me, do it now) and you can argue that with the RCMP at the check point and should make it through.

so to re cap, the genesis coupe with all seasons, including the stock bridgestones you may still have, will make it to whistler this weekend, unless it snows a shit ton, which it might, but if it does, you'll get stuck in squamish, if so give me a txt we'll go drifting. but you won't have a problem getting up there, so don't worry. (today the freezing level rose towards jesus and his lil buddies)

can someone let mindbomber fail me multiple times for this post? I'd sure he's blowing a gasket reading this, and if he can get his name under this pots 6 or 7 times might solve that

I agree with everything in this post but this weekend it's going to snow and I have a FEELING the road's will be bunk. That being said, you can still make it up just don't honk me when I pass you cuz you're barely moving.

Also, freezing level as fuck all to do with if it snows or not. Just saying.

I didn't think it'd be a big deal at all before making this post but there's a pretty wide variety of both intimidating and comforting (1990TSI although his experiences seem to be the most relevant).

The genesis has a pretty balanced weight distribution and the tires are nearly brand new (bridgestone potenzas) so im gonna give it a go. hoping for good weather.

If worst comes to worst I have a 2009 Cobalt LS coupe with winter tires that I could use. Just didnt really wanna resort to using that car. How bad would conditions need to get and how would I find out?

A lot of people are old timers and back when they drove the Sea to Sky it was hell. Now it really isn't. I drove up to whistler and back in winter many times after just getting my N with little to no driving experience. Don't be a retard, don't go fast and the furious and you'll be fine in any car, assuming its not a blizzard. Keep right, keep a good distance between you and the car infront of you, and that's all you need.



Driven the sea to sky in horrible snowy conditions in a bmw x3/e46/my jeep/300C (big ass RWD sedan)/Kia Rondo (FWD). Common sense > everything else.

My jeep has AWD + good tires but its heavy as hell so it is a pain in the ass to slow down on ice. E46/kia rondo were not AWD but had newer tires and are pretty light so they slowed down easy, getting traction to start moving was tricky but not impossible. IMO stopping is a little more important than getting going lol

On top of that, these roads are regularly maintained and salted .. you're not going through uncharted territory on old abandoned logging roads. People make the sea to sky seem like its some insurmountable obstacle in the winter. As long as the snow isn't so high that you're high centering your car, you should be okay along the way. I have gotten stuck on my way to whistler a few times, but it always happens in the village. Usually I just park the car where I'm staying and walk/bus everywhere.


TL;DR

Although not wise to drive to whistler and back in a genesis, it's not impossible. As long as its not horrible blizzard conditions, you'll be fine. Don't speed, don't be an ass. AWD + Snow tires is ideal but not necessary IMHO.

my posts were purely for information and not to be intimidating.

for me, personally I wouldn't leave safety to chance pertaining to:

-unpredictable weather patterns as of late
-RCMP not doing their job enforcing (see map initial post, required chain or winter tire zone going to Whistler marked in pink)
m/s =/= snowflake icon

in any case, drive safe, good luck and have fun.

You kids and your fancy lowered cars! :lawl:

I grew up learning to drive in the 100 Mile House area where there was snow on the roads six months out of the year. I drove my dad's '81 Dodge pickup, my mom's '69 Ford Galaxie, and later my mom's (and then mine) '80 GLC, almost always on all-seasons, and rarely with a problem.

I spun the truck once, in the middle of summer, on a gravel road when I hit a washboard in a corner. Never spun the Galaxie. Rolled the GLC once doing only 20k because the front wheel got sucked into a snowbank, the car got sideways, and then the rear tire hit a rock in the road.

My grandpa used to power through the new snowfall in his '77 Dodge Aspen without a problem, also on all-seasons. If he hit deeper snow, he'd just drop it from D to 2 and punch on through.

Sometimes someone would end up on a snowbank, but it was never serious BECAUSE WE DIDN'T GO FLYING AROUND LIKE ASSHOLES... because spinning out at 50k never ends as badly as spinning out at 100k. And yeah, we all carried a set of chains for getting out of those sticky spots - unless the roads were REALLY nasty, the chains came off again once we were out of the muck.

The lesson is this, kids: take your time, take it easy, and *IF* something does go sideways, you'll have lots of time to react, and the results will be a lot easier to recover from. Don't panic at that white stuff falling from the sky. Mind the road, mind the other traffic, relax your death-grip on the wheel, and you'll be fine. That old Galaxie was probably lower than most of your cars, just the way it was designed, and the biggest problem it had was that one of the two mufflers would regularly get knocked off by big rocks on the road.

I don't understand why people are failing this post... it is 100% accurate and even posts a link to the BC Highways website. The Sea to Sky everywhere north of Horseshoe Bay is designated as a winter route and as such winter tires or chains are mandatory to have. Of course you don't have to drive with the chains on, but you must carry them.

I hate to see people failing accurate information. :(

Mark

Because 1990TSI and Soundy have +10 experience points when driving in snow without winter rated tires.

Also because he left this out of his final conclusion:

Probably too busy busting guys with front tint and HIDs :troll:

I failed one person in this thread, because they provided poor and misleading information. A highway cam is great if you check it while in Horseshoe Bay, but for any greater distance it's ineffective. Conditions change fast at higher elevations, and RSXBoii could easily get hit by a drop in temperatures or snow fall on route. It's also misleading, in that it does not at all mention that winter rated tires are indeed required on the Sea to Sky.
I'm not blowing a gasket reading this, I'm laughing that you would have such a strong response though.

I would venture to say my driving experience on the Sea to Sky is at the minimum comparable to that of any other person on the forum, as I worked in Whistler during Olympic construction and have made upwards of 1000 round trips from Vancouver.

RSXBoii is an inexperienced RWD vehicle and winter conditions driver. The Sea to Sky while safer than it once was, is still dangerous and should be given respect. Nearly new tires with a good amount of tread does not change that all season tires harden in low temperatures. Rather than risk an at fault accident, he should prepare his vehicle for the road he intends to travel with either winter tires or chains. If RSXBoii opts for chains, he should definitely practice putting them on in advance of the trip.

You're totally right, the key is respecting the road and not panicking if you lose traction, and if you do those two simple things you'll probably be alright. Expecting drivers from within Greater Vancouver to not panic at the mere sight of snow, never mind when they lose traction, is as unrealistic as using winning the lottery as a retirement savings plan.

My Aunt only recently moved back to the Coast from Williams Lake, I had dinner planned with her a few weeks ago on one of the nights we had light snow, but she canceled because she was uncomfortable driving in those conditions. I didn't understand how someone who lived in Williams Lake for 15 years could be afraid of a couple centimeters of white stuff, but she explained, she isn't uncomfortable with the snow, it's sharing the Greater Vancouver drivers who always and unanimously panic in the snow that give her pause.